1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to agricultural machines and, more particularly, to an apparatus for automatically regulating a discharge spout thereon with respect to an associated but not necessarily attached collector vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various agricultural machines include a discharge spout cooperating therewith to direct material into a collector vehicle or storage tank. In some machines, the discharge spout is stationary and the associated vehicle cooperates with the machine and spout to collect the crop material. There are, however, agricultural machines having adjustable discharge spouts, from which harvested crop or other material is directed into a storage wagon, a truck following the agricultural machine, or a stationary storage tank. It is apparent, when maneuvering around corners during harvesting, that it becomes necessary to redirect the discharge spout such that the harvested crop is continually directed into the associated collector vehicle. For efficient operation, crop loss must be kept to an absolute minimum. Traditionally, the operator performed this task by manually aligning the discharge spout with a crank or by actuating a switch that controlled a bidirectional electromechanical unit suitably coupled to the discharge spout.
More recently, however, automatic spout control systems have appeared. One such system employs a completely mechanical means for positioning the discharge spout in response to the movement of a wagon coupled thereto. Another such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,945 entitled "Spout Control System" issued to Dean Symonds. The Symonds patent discloses an "active target" system having a large coil of wire associated with the wagon which is energized with an alternating current to produce a magnetic field. A signal coil mounted on the discharge spout, having its axis perpendicular to the axis of the large coil, couples energy between the coils to a phase detecting circuit. The output from the phase detecting circuit is utilized to position the spout accordingly. A more recent device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,132 entitled "Spout Control Apparatus for Agricultural Machines," is assigned to the assignee of the instant application. This device includes a first sensor, a potentiometer disposed on the agricultural machine and coupled through a mechanical follower to the trailing wagon, and a second sensor coupled through appropriate gearing to the discharge spout. Thus, the device detects two angles, the angle of the wagon relative to the harvesting machine and the angle of the direction of the crop discharge spout. The outputs of the sensors which are signals representative of the two angles are coupled to a comparator, whereby an error signal is generated to adjust the discharge spout until the difference between the two angles is substantially reduced to zero.
Accordingly, the traditional methods of manual operation are limited by their inherent inefficiency and the safety hazards which they pose as the operator's attention is split between the operation of the agricultural machine and the operation of the spout. Furthermore, the described prior art automatic methods are expensive, limit the mechanical design of the agricultural machine, and require the physical coupling of the agricultural machine to the collector, i.e., wagon, truck, or tank. Therefore, there is a need to provide the agricultural industry with a solution to the problem of spout control or remote positioning of other components such that efficient operation of the agricultural machine may be had when utilizing an associated, but not necessarily attached, collector vehicle.